Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/46

 akes of a people. Now Islam's conception of God is vastly higher than that of any idolatrous people. Its splendid mono- theism, with all its deficiencies, simply towers above any- thing we find in any other faith with the exceptions of Judaism and Christianity. It is in its conflict with these that it has utterly failed, except where a choice between apostasy and death was given, and few, if any, except those who had no strong convictions, hesitated to brave the edge of the sword.

A religion that stands for the unity and sovereignty of God is a religion that is to be reckoned with. The true Moslem stands for these with a conviction that would put to shame many of the so-called Christians of to-day. It is in the deficiency of the conception that Islam fails. God is not a God of love ; and sovereignty without love is little more than arbitrarj^ force. Its great strength appeals to people who are all their lives in bondage to the belief in evil spirits that rule the destinies of men. It is a great relief to the poor pagan, suffering the terror of innumerable unfriendly, jealous spirits, to find a faith that presents a God that is of infinite power, under whose jurisdiction all created beings, of whatever realm, are in complete subjection. One can appreciate what this means, and with what convincing power the Moslem fanatic approaches the devil-worshipper of Africa and exorcises all demons by the splendid evangel of an omnipotent God.

Now why does not the Moslem accept Christianity that presents so much richer a monotheism ; not only a God of infinite power, but a God of infinite love, interpreted to us through the blessed incarnation ?

It is just here that the difficulty appears. The pre- sentation of Christ in His divinity is a direct attack upon monotheism. The Trinity to the Moslem is tritheism. It is the disintegration of the great thought of God's oneness. The false presentation of the Koran, giving the prophet's crude idea of Christianity, utterly misrepre- sents the Christian idea. The Koran is of divine origin, therefore must be taken literally, and so there is no hope that the Moslem will entertain anything so blasphemous as the division of his splendid Oriental God,